2002 (02 Series)

Two Engineers and an Importer The 1600-2 was announced in March 1966 on a shortened New Class floorpan with a 2,500 mm wheelbase, the '-2' denoting two doors: light, upright, struts at the front and semi-trailing arms at the back, and not aimed at America. In mid-1967 Alex von Falkenhausen and Helmut Werner Bonsch each fitted the 1,990 cc M10 from the 2000 saloon into his own 1602, found the other had done the same, and took a joint proposal to the board. The commercial case came from New York: Max Hoffman wanted a faster car, the 1600ti could not pass United States emissions rules, and the two-litre already could.

Turn Your Hymnals to 2002 In April 1968 Car and Driver published David E. Davis Jr's review under that title, and BMW of North America still credits the article, read by roughly a million subscribers, with changing the company's American trajectory. Davis quoted $2,850, 114 hp at 5,800 rpm, sixty in second and eighty in third, and a top speed 'a shade over a hundred'. The 114 hp does not match BMW's 100 PS DIN rating and the piece names no standard, so the two should not be read against each other. BMW's American sales tell the rest: 1,253 cars in 1966, 4,564 in 1967, 9,172 in 1968 and 11,638 in 1969, the last limited by what Munich could build rather than by demand.

ti, tii and the Kugelfischer Pump The sporting versions arrived in sequence. The twin-Solex 2002 ti made 120 PS from 1968 and was never federalised. In April 1971 the tii replaced it, using the Kugelfischer mechanical pump already fitted to the 2000 tii and taking 130 bhp at 5,800 rpm, with 46 mm inlet valves, 256 mm front discs, boxed rear trailing arms and half-inch wider wheels. BMW priced it at DM 12,765, some DM 2,000 above a standard car, and called it the wolf in sheep's clothing. Motor Sport, driving a Group 1 tii in July 1972, recorded 143 bhp from a prepared engine - at least 13 bhp over the production DIN rating - found power falling away beyond 6,000 rpm, and reported a car that would run rings round the opposition on bumpy circuits while kicking its rear wheels up under provocation.

Roundies, Squares and the Emissions Years The 02 changed twice. A 1971 revision brought wraparound bumpers, revised rear lamps and a two-piece instrument cluster. The larger break came from September 1973, when a new rear panel carried square lamps with built-in reflectors; American cars took the change for the 1974 model year, and the Touring kept round lamps to the end. Alongside ran a slow strangulation of the United States engine: EGR replaced the air pump mid-1972, 1975 brought a thermal reactor, air pump, EGR and lower compression together, and 1976 deleted the reactor for a cylinder head from the coming E21.

The Turbo and the Oil Crisis BMW showed the 2002 turbo at Frankfurt in September 1973 and records it as the first series-produced European car with an exhaust turbocharger, the KKK unit adding forty horsepower to the tii's engine for 170 bhp and a claimed 211 km/h. It had riveted arch extensions, a front air dam, a ZF limited-slip differential and, at first, 'turbo' in mirror script across the spoiler so that drivers ahead would read it correctly. The fuel crisis broke over the launch, the script was deleted after objection, and BMW concedes the car remained marginal. Left-hand drive only, because the exhaust manifold left no room for a right-hand column, it was gone by the middle of 1975.

Corrosion dominates and is the expensive fault: rear shock towers, front floors, frame rails fore and aft, rockers, front wing corners and the spare wheel well. A shell that has lost its shock towers is a restoration project regardless of how the engine sounds. Worn valve guides show as blue smoke on deceleration, and oil weeps from the main seals, valve cover, distributor and sump are close to universal. Solex carburettors give trouble; on the tii the Kugelfischer pump can need a rebuild only a handful of specialists will attempt. The four-speed gearbox loses second-gear synchromesh and leaks from its shaft seals, behind a flex disc that cracks and a centre support bearing that sags. Emissions-era United States cars carry their own driveability problems, the 1975 combination of thermal reactor, air pump, EGR and reduced compression being the least loved specification of the run. The rest are small but tedious: heater blowers that need the dashboard out, cracked dash tops, expensive sunroof cables, and air-conditioning compressors Hagerty describes as beyond saving.

Structure first, and from underneath. The rear shock towers are the fault that ends cars: they rot from inside the boot and take the upper spring perch with them. Check the front floors, the frame rails from the front crossmembers back to the floor and again under the fuel tank, the rockers, which are structural rather than cosmetic here, and the upper corners of the front wings behind the indicators. Fresh undercoating on a car being sold is a question, not a reassurance.

Then establish what the car is. Round or square rear lamps sets the year band and a large part of the price. A ti or tii is worth confirming against chassis and engine numbers rather than badges, since the mechanical difference from a base car is modest and the money difference is not. A turbo should be left-hand drive and originally Chamonix White or Polaris Silver; RM Sotheby's disclosed on one Munich car that earlier bodywork had removed the original chassis stamp, the sort of thing that surfaces only in a catalogue addendum.

Mechanically, blue smoke on the overrun points at valve guides, second-gear synchromesh is the gearbox's weak point, and the driveshaft flex disc and centre bearing are consumables. On a tii the Kugelfischer pump governs everything: the Tii Register publishes BMW North America's dealer manual for the system precisely because a rebuild still needs a specialist with the right tools and test equipment, and there are few of them.

As of August 2026, classic.com's 2002 page shows how completely specification governs price: the base 2002 benchmarks at $24,600, the tii coupe at $35,325 and the turbo at $118,720, against a page-level average sale of $32,659 from 29 listings. The floor is genuinely low - the cheapest recorded 2002 is $1,750 for a 1976 project on 18 June 2023 - and the ceiling a 1974 turbo advertised at $225,000 in July 2026. The tii page, as of August 2026, gives a benchmark of $36,139 from eleven listings, original cars between $35,325 and $38,947 and modified cars from $8,802 to $74,000, with a lowest recorded sale of $2,600 in May 2025. Turbo money sits in a separate and rising market: as of August 2026 classic.com records an average sale of $111,972 against the $118,720 benchmark, with results of EUR 126,500 in October 2025, $127,000 in December 2025, $124,000 in February 2026 and $155,500 in March 2026, against a low of $40,000 in December 2024. RM Sotheby's sold chassis 4291234, a 1974 turbo showing 62,834 km, for $140,000 at Miami on 28 February 2025, and chassis 4291147 for EUR 126,500 at Munich in October 2025; both are the house's published results rather than hammer prices.